Read this story and share the joy! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/11/a-riptide-swept-away-a-florida-family-then-beachgoers-formed-a-human-chain/?utm_term=.d9e60b8ab518&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1 People can rise to the occasion to save others. What a great story and photo.

Karen Wolfe writes here about the decision of students at Venice High School in Los Angeles staged a walkout. They were protesting the removal of an African-American guidance counselor. The problem was the principal, who wanted to

In this article , Alan Singer of Hofstra University connects the dots behind the effort to allow charter schools to hire uncertified teachers. He follows the money, and it leads to one man: Governor Andrew Cuomo. Charters need to hire

We have had a vigorous discussion on the blog about Betsy DeVos’s decision to reorient the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights towards protecting the rights of those accused of rape rather than those who alleged that they were victims of rape. Candace Jackson, DeVos’s controversial choice to lead OCR, made these startling remarks to the New York Times, which caused such an uproar

Having treated teachers shabbily, Wisconsin now finds it needs to take desperate measures to hire teachers: lower standards. Tim Slekar of Edgewood College in Milwaukee says this is madness . He writes: “There is NO NEED for an “emergency rule” that deregulates teacher licensure. “However: “There IS AN EMERGENCY need to address the reasons why teachers are fleeing Wisconsin classrooms. and… “Ther

There used to be a well-known saying: “You can’t fight City Hall.” Change that to: “You can’t fight the charter lobby.” Mayor Bill de Blasio ran for mayor with the promise that he would fight the charter lobby. He was a public school parent and had served on a community school board. I believed him. I endorsed him. Then after he was elected, the billionaires showed him who runs education policy i

Two newsworthy items from Los Angeles: First, the new school board elected charter chain operator Ref Rodriguez as its president. Rodriguez leads the PUC (Partnership Uplifting Communities) charter chain of 16 schools. Rodriguez called for unity after the just-concluded dirty election, the most expensive in U.S. history. Politico reports: “LA SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT SEEKS UNITY AFTER UGLY ELECTION

Alternet posted an informative article that explains why charter schools churn through teachers. It was written by Rann Miller, who taught for six years in a charter school in Camden, New Jersey. He writes: “John was fresh-out-of-college and had never set foot in a city school before. Hired the day before the school year started, he missed out on the two-and-a-half weeks of training the charter o

Many states are planning to lower standards for new teachers, because charter schools can’t recruit enough teachers to fill their staff. Speak out against lowered standards! Don’t let them destroy the teaching profession! Click here and stand up for qualified teachers! The Network for Public Education invites you to speak up and let the charter authorizers in New York know that every child deserv

Daniel Katz prepares secondary school teachers at Seton Hall University. He knows the importance of having highly qualified professionals in every classroom, especially in urban districts where many students need extra support and individual attention. In this post , he expresses his bafflement that the SUNY Charter School Committee is considering a plan to permit charter schools to “certify” the

Jersey Jazzman explores the flap in New York about certification –or lack thereof–for charter school teachers. The charter industry says, if we get the test scores, we don’t need teachers with masters’ degrees or certification… JJ says: Yes, “better results” are all that matters, no matter how practically small they may be. And no matter how you got them: if your gains are from student attrition,

Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, has been selected by the board of the Horace Mann League as its 2018 Outstanding Friend of Public Education. The presentation will be made at the HML Annual Meeting